Characters
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Mihael Keehl
- Gender:
- Male
- Orientation:
- Straight
Mello is the older of L's two potential successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester, England, United Kingdom. When it is decided that Mello should work with the other successor, Near, Mello refuses, citing an inability to work with Near, to whom he is considered second in ability. Near is more intelligent than Mello, but Mello has more ambition than Near. This results in Near thinking things out better than Mello, but sometimes being so uninterested in his surroundings that he verges on inactivity. Meanwhile, Mello has a brazen and driven personality, driving him (unlike Near) to be the first to resume actively hunting Kira; however, Mello lets his emotions cloud his judgment, often leading to rash decisions that impede his progress. While Mello is certainly a genius and more intelligent than most people, the concept of being only the second most intelligent person in the world, behind Near, fuels the inferiority complex that defines Mello's character. Mello verges on being amoral in his obsession with being the one to take down Kira and is willing to do "whatever it takes", tactics which include kidnapping and approach being an accessory to ***. In the manga, after Mello has successfully stolen a Death Note, he even goes so far as to attempt to blackmail the President of the United States via telephone into giving him funds and resources to aid his hunt for Kira, threatening that if his demands are not met he will use the Death Note to force the president to launch the United States' nuclear missiles and start World War III.[1] Arguably, Mello is not even trying to defeat Kira out of a sense of "justice", but because capturing Kira will not only get pay back for L's death but also prove to the world that Mello is indeed the worthy successor to L's status as the world's greatest detective, and not simply runner-up to Near, or as Mello describes his goal in his own words "I will be the new Number One!".[2] Similar to L's fondness for sweets, Mello is near-constantly seen eating bars of chocolate, usually by ripping off an entire chunk in his mouth with a dramatic flourish. Also, just like L, Mello thinks and reacts quickly, and uses less conventional methods to solve his cases. 13: How to Read states that Mello has "an excellent mind" and that he "sometimes lets his emotions get in his way". The book cites Mello's "hatred of Near", which created "a flaw in [Mello's] personality". Obata points out that Mello's envy and hatred of Near was only one-way, and that Near honestly "liked Mello" [3] The book states that Mello isn't purely evil, citing his apology and genuine care for Matt's well-being. [4] Tsugumi Ohba, the writer of Death Note, stated that Mello "works hard for everything". Ohba added that Mello's name "doesn't really stand for anything."[5] Mello is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki in the Japanese anime, and David Hurwitz in the English version.
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Nate River
- Gender:
- Male
- Orientation:
- Straight
In Death Note, Near is the younger of L's two successors raised in Wammy's House, Watari's orphanage for gifted children, in Winchester, England, United Kingdom. Of the successors, Near is more level-headed, calmly assessing the situation, while the other, Mello, is more emotional and quicker to act. Much like L, Near shows various odd behaviors during his normal life. He is usually seen hunched over rather than sitting. He also constantly plays with various toys, which he uses in his theories, as well as idly twiddling strands of his hair. In the epilogue of the manga, he is shown eating a bar of chocolate, as he pursues a new case, possibly in memory of Mello. He shows a great respect for L, basing much of how he solves crime on L's methods, even to the point where he only takes cases that he is interested with rather than trying to pursue justice. Near uses the Wedding text font "N" and "L" to represent himself and the fake L, respectively. But later in the aftermath, he used Old English MT font "L" like the original L did. He is voiced by Noriko Hidaka in the Japanese anime, and Cathy Weseluck in the English dub. Sometime after L's death, he works for the United States under the SPK (Special Provision for Kira) team that is established to investigate Kira without the help of "L". He soon manages to deduce that Light Yagami, posing as L, is actually Kira. After he finds that Teru Mikami is Light's proxy and Mello kidnaps Kiyomi Takada, Near is able to switch Mikami's Death Note with a forged one, allowing him to set up a final confrontation that leaves Light exposed. Ryuk kills Light soon after. Near says that neither he nor Mello could surpass L alone, but have managed to do so by inadvertently working together. Near soon takes L's alias, and keeps on the surviving members of the SPK as his subordinates. Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, said that Near "becomes less likeable" as the story advances, citing Near's plan to take the notebook at a later point in the story. Ohba said that a negative reaction originated from "the difference in their attitudes" and that people may have viewed Near as "a cheat". Ohba added that Near's "cheeky behavior", intended to "reinforce his childishness", had been construed as "annoying".[1] In the final chapter Near brings finger puppets to the Yellow Box Warehouse. Takeshi Obata, artist of Death Note, said that Near first bought the Kira finger puppet and drew on it with a magic marker. Obata then said that Near must have created the other puppets afterwards. Obata views Near as not liking L much so Obata had Near depict L as "ugly", and that Near "worked hard" on Mello's puppet as Near "liked Mello".[1] Obata said he enjoyed drawing Near and that Near is also one of his favorite and his least favorite characters,[1] considering him to be the smartest character in the manga "because he cheats".[2] When asked about which character was most similar to himself, Ohba indicated Near and "maybe Light". Regarding Near, Ohba said that he does not leave his house often
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Mail Jeevas
- Gender:
- Male
- Orientation:
- Straight
Matt (マット, Matto?), whose real name is Mail Jeevas (マイル・ジーヴァス, Mairu Jīvasu?), is a consort of Mello's. A character in the manga and anime versions, Matt was also a former resident of Wammy's orphanage; Ohba described him as the "third most talented member" of the house.[5] Matt is Mello's helper[5] as Matt performs espionage work and acts as an accomplice in Takada's kidnapping, which results in his death when he is shot by Takada's bodyguards. He is voiced by Tomohiro Nishimura in the Japanese anime and by Drew Nelson in English dub. According to How to Read, Matt enjoys video games[5] and is not outgoing. He also seems to be a chain smoker. He uses his last breath to smoke his cigarette. He is also behind Near and Mello in succeeding L. Ohba said that he created Matt because when Mello started to act alone Ohba believed that he would find difficulty in advancing the story unless Mello had a character to interact with. Ohba said that to a reader Matt may appear to play video games and have no other actions, but he said that Matt's existence was "important" in the story.[5] In response to a question inquiring about which characters the creators had the most difficulty creating, Ohba cited Matt and said "I didn't even know what kind of person he was!"[48] Obata said that he did not receive advance notice regarding Matt, who had the character concept of "a young man who loves gaming and doesn't really care much about the world." Obata said that he remembered seeing the thumbnails and asking his editor "Who's this character?!" The thumbnails gave Matt a bowl haircut and goggles; Obata instead drew "what I liked." Obata added that he could "create Matt naturally" as he had a "he probably won't do much" mentality regarding characters introduced in the Near and Mello arc. His birthday is February 1, 1990